Where does the time go? Half the year is behind us already and I’m still dating things 2013. And, this our last day in Elkhart. Tomorrow we’re heading to the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails preserve in Batesville, Indiana. We’ve been here over two months and it seems like it’s been just a couple of weeks. […]

Apparently my Yahoo e-mail account, editor@gypsyjournal.net was hacked. If anybody gets an e-mail with From Nick Russell in the subject line please delete and DO NOT open the link. I apologize for any inconvenience. The huge Shipshewana Flea Market is a major tourist draw and when the market is open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they […]

There are large communities of Amish and Mennonites in this part of northern Indiana, and we always enjoy driving the back roads east of Elkhart, admiring the tidy Amish farms, seeing the horse-drawn buggies, and just enjoying a ride in the country. Yesterday afternoon, Greg and Jan joined us for a ride out to Shipshewana, […]

We spent yesterday exploring the back roads of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and what a wonderful time we had! This is the heart of Pennsylvania’s Amish country, and on every back road we traveled we saw Amish farms, usually with laundry hanging on clotheslines, and livestock in their pens. This swaybacked horse looks like he’s […]

I spent most of yesterday working on a website for Carlyle Lehman at Focal Wood Products. Many people are surprised to learn that while the Amish people live a much simpler lifestyle than most of us, with their horses and buggies, they do in fact make use of many modern conveniences, including telephones, electricity, and […]